COLONNATA

Colonnata rhymes with lardo. Despite the calcareous name, it causes an embarrassing Pavlovian response for which vegetarians will have to forgive us.
Above all though, Colonnata rhymes with marble: it was back to 40 B.C. when the Roman population of Luni founded here the first settlement around the querries. Romans were thirsty for marble and it seems that the name Colonnata originates from the latin columna: what an easy etymology!
The town of Colonnata, as we know it today, dates back to the Twelfth Century: the regal marble features of the modest buildings seems somohow out of place, considering the way querrimen and their families roughed it. If not the marble, green forests of chestnut trees cover the Apuan peaks and it seems that the abundance of chestnuts convinced the Langobardians to import pigs in the region. Haven’t you understood the equation yet? Chestnuts, pigs, marble = lardo of Colonnata.

A must see, for its surreal and moon-like landscapes that surround the town, Colonnata is worth a visit: if you need a marble mortar and pestle – the kind needed to make the real pesto – this is the place to be. If you disdain fakes, come here to buy the lardo; in August the town celebrates its most delicious gold.